- •1. Grammatical category. Grammatical meaning. Grammatical form
- •2. Theory of oppositions. Types of oppositions. Oppositions in morphology
- •3. Morpheme. Derivation morphemes and inflection morphemes
- •4. Distributional analysis. Morphemic analysis. Ic-analysis
- •1. Noun
- •2. Adjective
- •3. Pronoun
- •4. Numeral
- •5. The verb
- •7. The adverb
- •8. Prepositions
- •9. Conjunctions
- •10. Particles
- •11. Interjections
- •1. General characteristics
- •2. The category of number
- •3. The category of case
- •4. The Problem of Gender in English
- •5. The Category of Determination
- •1. A General Outline of the Verb as a Part of Speech
- •2. Classification of Verbs
- •3. The Category of Person
- •4. The Category of Number
- •5. The category of tense
- •6. The category of aspect
- •7. The category of temporal correlation
- •1. The category of voice
- •2. The Category of Mood
- •3. Mood and Modality
- •4. Oppositional reduction of verbal categories
- •Introductory
- •1. A general outline of the adjective
- •2. Classification of adjectives
- •3. The problem of the category of state
- •4. The category of comparison
- •5. The Adverb
- •1. A General Outline of Functional Parts of Speech
- •2. The Preposition
- •3. The Conjunction
- •4. The Particle
- •5. The Interjection
- •6. The Modal Word
- •1. The phrase as the basic unit of syntax.
- •2. Types of phrases
- •3. Types of syntactic relations
- •1. The notion of sentence. The sentence as a language unit
- •2. Classifications of simple sentences
- •1. The traditional scheme of sentence parsing
- •2. The main sentence parts: the subject and the predicate, their types
- •3. The Secondary Sentence Parts
- •4. Structural Schemes of the Sentence. The Elementary Sentence
- •5. Syntactic Processes
- •1. Semantic Roles and Semantic Configurations
- •2. Actual Division of the Sentence
- •3. Language means of expressing the theme and the rheme
- •1. The Definition of the Composite Sentence
- •2. Compound Sentences
- •3. Complex Sentences
- •4. Asyndetic Sentences
- •5. Transition From Simple To Composite Sentences
- •6. Mixed type of composite sentences
- •1. Semantics and Pragmatics
- •2. Indirect Meaning of the Utterance
- •1. Speech acts theory. Classification of speech acts
- •2. Pragmatic transposition of sentences
- •1. Conversational Implicature
- •2. The Cooperative principle and Grice’s maxims
- •3. The Politeness principle and Leech’s maxims
- •1. Text as an Object of Linguistic Research
- •2. Cohesion and Coherence
- •3. Textual Categories
- •4. Textual Units. Supra-Phrasal Unity and Paragraph
1. The traditional scheme of sentence parsing
The study of the constituent structure of the sentence presupposes analysis
of its parts. The established classification of sentence parts reflects their important
property – whether or not they are involved in forming the predicative center of the
sentence. Traditionally the main and the secondary parts have been singled out.
Besides these two types there is one more — elements which are said to stand
outside the sentence structure. The two generally recognized main parts are the
subject and the predicate. The secondary parts include the object, the adverbial
modifier, and the attribute. Other secondary parts are also sometimes mentioned —
the apposition (its relation to the attribute is variously interpreted), the objective
predicative, and occasionally some other parts, too. However, everything is
relative, thus if we approach the problem of sentence parts from the point of view
of the structural-semantic minimum of the sentence, then many objects and some
adverbial modifiers will turn out to be as important and needed as the subject and
the predicate.
e.g. She opened the door. The book is on the table.
2. The main sentence parts: the subject and the predicate, their types
The subject and the predicate have a unique standing in the system of
sentence parts. They form the backbone of the sentence. They are interdependent
and independent of any other sentence member while all other members can be
dependent either on the subject or on the predicate. The subject and the predicate
can form a sentence on their own.
e.g. She smiles. He is running.
The Subject
The subject is one of the two main parts of the sentence. It denotes the thing
whose action or characteristic is expressed by the predicate. It may be expressed by
different parts of speech, the most frequent ones being: a noun in the common
case, a personal pronoun in the nominative case, a demonstrative pronoun, a
substantivised adjective, a numeral, an infinitive, and a gerund. It may also be
expressed by a phrase.
The subject performs two main functions: categorial and relative. The
categorial function of the subject consists in naming the possessor of the
predicative feature expressed by the predicate. The relative function of the subject
consists in its being the original element in the syntagmatic development of the
sentence, thus constituting the predicate’s left environment as opposed to its right
environment.
As it has already been mentioned, the subject always goes with the
predicate, therefore, one-member nominal sentences do not have a subject.
The Predicate
The predicate denotes the action or property of the thing expressed by the
subject. It can be expressed by numerous ways. The predicate expresses the
predicative feature which characterized the object expressed by the subject, thus it
realizes the categorial function. Being a link between the subject and the right
environment of the verb, it performs the relative function.
According to morphological characteristics, four types of predicates can be
singled out:
- verbal;
- nominal;
- phraseological;
- contaminated.
The predicate can be subject to the syntactic process of complication, thus,
according to their structural characteristics, predicates can be simple and
complicated. Therefore, eight types of predicates can be identified.
Simple verbal I took an apple.
Simple nominal The coincidence was extraordinary.
Simple phraseological He gave me a smile.
Simple contaminated He sat motionless.
Complicated verbal The girl began to cry.
Complicated nominal He turned out to be a thief.
Complicated phraseological You should have taken a look at the map.
Complicated contaminated He seemed to be lying asleep.
(Mind that Prof. Ilyish’s idea of simple and compound nominal predicate is
different from the traditional view. NB what he calls double predicate - Catherine's
blood ran cold with the horrid suggestions which naturally sprang from these
words. (J. AUSTEN))